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Published: December 7th 2006
Hello, hello Friends!
Sorry to have been MIA for awhile - my goal was to do a journal entry every 3 weeks, but my trip started rolling and now it's been almost 6 weeks . . . so you're getting 2 for 1 here 😉 Time has just flown by and strangely I feel that I have less to report now than in my previous updates . . . but I'm happy and I guess that's what this is all about. A few people told me before I left that this would be the trip of a lifetime and that it would change my life. Well . . . it is and it has!!! I knew I'd have an amazing time and come back with new perspectives, etc., but those wise souls were more on the mark than I ever could have imagined. A friend (hi Kristen!) once told me that everyone is supposed to have seven best years of their life . . . hands down this is one of mine!
I last left you contemplating becoming a permanent resident of Cambodia - fortunately all border crossings since have been a breeze . . . well minus AU where my friends and I received very thorough baggage checks upon entry as we must have raised some drug suspicions coming from SE Asia - they didn't have nothin' on us though 😉 From Cambodia I headed back to Thailand to visit Bangkok where my only goal was to shop, shop, shop! I ended up being there for a week (longer than I had planned) due to my desire to stay for their weekend market - which was nuts, but well worth it. I had a couple of days on my own and then my friend Lana (who I'd been with in Cambodia) came and met me for my remaining time. We didn't see much other than the main backpackers' street, Khao San Road, which is a crazy non-stop scene of wild Thais and backpackers from everywhere looking for a bit of Bangkok action. The city itself was a bit overwhelming, but Lana and I were proud of ourselves for being able to navigate our way around only using ferries, buses, and trains. Well ok, maybe we had a little help . . . at the end of our first day outside our neighborhood we had to ask a local to help us determine which bus to take back home (since we were completely lost by the roundabout full of buses going in every direction). The nice woman didn't speak much English so she rang up her friend, had us wait for the friend to arrive, and then the two Thai women walked us to the busstop we needed to be at and proceeded to give us their cell phone numbers incase we needed any further assistance while we were there. SO NICE.
Lana and I met two more girls to run around with for a few days. We all ventured to the Chatuchak weekend market together and of course about two hours in I got seperated from the rest of the girls not to see them again until I returned home - possibly it was a blessing in disguise as I got almost all my shopping done in one day! There are beautiful things in Bangkok and the prices are cheap . . . if you can bargain! I got pretty good at it and ended up leaving the market with two huge bags full of stuff, all of which I managed to get back to my guesthouse (alone) again via public transit . . . that trip I didn't even have to ask which bus to take 😊 Despite the cheap prices you still have to get your purchases home - a bit of my shopper's elation disappeared when I learned that it costs almost as much to ship items home as to buy them. Hopefully it was $ well spent and my two boxes of gifts will make it to the States in one piece by Christmas! It was super hot in Bangkok (trying to sleep in our un-airconditioned rooms was miserable - at least it helped make our cold showers feel good!) and because of it we ended up not doing much sightseeing. We did however manage to have some good nights out - one that included a killer Thai cover band that played at an Irish pub (?!) . . . we kept it tame though, no ping-pong shows 😉 I also got to see my pal Tim from Ireland, as well as another guy I met in Laos, Al from AU, which was a bonus.
Due to time I decided to skip the south islands of Thailand and from Bangkok flew to Indonesia. I had a long layover in Singapore and spent the day at the Singapore Zoo. Coming from Thailand, Singapore was like Disneyland - so clean and orderly. There are crazy laws in Singapore, like if you chew gum in public areas you get fined! It seems to keep people straight so I guess it works. The zoo was a perfect way to spend the day since the animals and the the natural surroundings were very unique and beautiful. Unfortunately it rained about half the time I was there, but no one seemed to mind as it was also VERY hot and humid there. I arrived in Bali late that night and spent a few days in Kuta on the beach (amazing) and just enjoyed the laidback lifestyle . . . do you sense a theme in my favorite things to do!?
After a few days on my own I made some new friends who turned my trip upside down. One late afternoon I wandered into an open-air bar/restaurant for some lunch (mind you it was like 4 pm . . . I love having no schedule!!) and ended up spending the next 12ish hours with a crew of Australian guys (the only ones at the bar when I arrived). The bar owner, Kup of "Kup's Corner", was actually Indonesian and one other was a middle-aged Aussie who had remarried an Indonesian woman and had been living there for years. The other three, Andrew, Will, and Luke, were surfers and convinced me (not hard) to leave with them the following morning to a remote surf spot called Bingin about an hour away. Although I felt like death the next morning (and had mysterious scrapes on my elbows?) I managed to meet them again to be swept away to a hut on the beach where we did nothing but eat, drink, play on the beach, surf (the boys), play solitaire against each other on our iPods, and laugh . . . lots 😊
Although I didn't see all the things I had planned to in Bali and the surrounding areas (except for Uluwatu beach and the beautiful Hindu temple, Pura Tanah Lot) I had the best time and ended up returning to Kuta and then onto Australia with the boys since we were on the same schedules. I had the absolute pleasure of spending a few days with Luke's family (amazing people) in the beach town of Noosa (so Southern Cali to me) before I headed north to Cairns. In Cairns I spent time by the cool saltwater lagoon that was across from my hostel and also got to reunite with Lana again since she lives outside of Cairns on a papaya farm with her Australian boyfriend. Allthough that meeting was pre-arranged, I've found it crazy how many friends you begin to feel like you have as you start seeing familiar faces in every new place you visit! I also made friends with the girls I shared a dorm with, all three of whom ended up getting tattoos while I was there . . . I passed, let's just say they were all MUCH younger than me!
From Cairns I moved to Airlie Beach just for a night. I stayed in a dorm of eight and made some more new fun friends (lots and lots of Germans in AU for some reason!?) that I had a great night with trying to track down a bar that played hip-hop. Feeling a bit broken the next day (more from the drinking than the fact that we didn't find any fitting music to dance to) I managed to get aboard a three day sailing trip to the Whitsunday Islands. AMAZING. We had some bad weather which made for some rough seas and kept us from reaching the most beautiful island, but fortunately we had a bunch of good people onboard to make for a memorable time nonetheless. When the weather was nice we were out snorkeling and taking in some of the most wonderful underwater scenes I've ever experienced - the Great Barrier Reef definitely deserves its name.
Upon return from my sailing trip I left on an overnight bus to Rainbow Beach where I met up with Luke (who lives and works there) again and then left the following day for a three day driving tour of Fraser Island. Wow! First of all, I have never been anywhere in the world where you can hop on the beach in your 4-wheel drive and cruise along at 60+ miles an hour as if you're on the freeway, all with other cars passing and people walking around. It is nuts (perhaps a bit dangerous?) . . . but exhilarating. Australia seems to have endless amounts of unpopulated breathtaking beaches - bluest water, reminded me of Mexico. America get your butt over here and take some of it! j/k A ferry hauled us over to the island and then we were set free to cruise (I obviously opted not to be one of the drivers) with about 10 other people per truck and explore lakes, mountains, tide pools, etc. At night we'd meet up with other groups who'd been doing the same to camp and party together . . . I mostly just camped as I was a little partied out. The island is inhabited by Dingos, which are basically big wild dogs that have no fear and at night they would come into the campsites to scavenge for food. I only saw one, but if I'd managed to hang late with the kids I was told I would have seen lots. Highlight was also seeing some sea turtles, a dolphin and even a shark while looking down into the crystal clear ocean from the cliffs . . . but alas not one kangaroo or koala the whole trip 😞
After the island trip I returned once again to Noosa to Luke's parents' place. It was a fun reunion as I got to see the family again as well as Will and Andrew! We made sure to enjoy our final days all together before they returned to "real life" and before I had to keep moving on without them. Such good people, all of them - I feel so lucky that our paths crossed as my time with them and their friends, family, etc. has by far been the highlight of my travels.
My next stop was to Byron Bay, which in my opinion (and limited exposure to AU) is the spot! I would move there in a heartbeat . . . too bad AU doesn't offer holiday working visas to Americans. The only drawback was that I was in Byron during "schoolies" - pretty much the equivalent of a Senior trip back home. All the Aussie 12th graders who have just graduated (remember it's summer here) leave for two weeks to party, but instead of Cancun they go to select beach spots within the country. It was mayhem . . . drunk, crazy 17-18 year olds loose everywhere! I tried to avoid them as much as possible, but I have to say that I did encounter some that were extremely entertaining. Steve was my favorite schoolie - he was on one of my buses headed for a job interview he had the next day. He'd been drinking all day with is other teenage friends and was not embarrassed to let us know it. Over the course of his 3 hour ride he introduced himself to everyone sitting around him by saying "HI! I'm Steve! I'm Aussie. I'm 17. It's Schoolies and I'm DRUNK!" We had a long conversation about how he was convinced that he could out drink anyone in the US and attempted to defend his argument by listing all the alcohol he'd consumed in his last week . . . ah to be 17 again. I miss Steve 😞
Back to Byron . . . beautiful beaches, new-age mentality, good vibe: SOLD. I loved it and tried to take in all the good energy it had to offer. Enjoyed the best yoga class I've ever attended - maybe it was the town's good feelings or maybe it was that you could hear waves crashing right outside the window. Took a day trip to the hippie mecca, and not to mention marijuana capital of AU, Nimbin. It's situated in the mouth of a once active volcano and now has some of the most fertile land in AU - the drive there was mountainous and lush. The town had a certain beauty of it's own, mostly because it hasn't changed much since the Aquarius Festival that brought people there back in the 60's. Instead of stocking up on cookies and other pot delicacies I spent the majority of my afternoon talking to an 85 year old English woman who had lived there since the festival - fascinating.
Finally I had a quick two days in Sydney - breathtaking city that reminded me of San Francisco. I managed to see Hyde Park, St. Mary's Cathedral, the Opera House, Circular Quay where I took a high-speed Jet Cruiser ride around the harbor out to the bay, the Harbor Bridge where I went up to the Pylon Lookout for some awesome views, Cockle Bay and crossed the Pyrmont Bridge. I was lucky enough to have some company again as I met up with an English friend, Anna, who I'd met on my Fraser Island tour. I enjoyed Sydney, but I've started to feel that to an extent a city is a city anywhere you go and if you don't have the time to really get to know it then it's almost more enjoyable to be on the beach relaxing 😉 Despite that feeling, if I ever return I do want to make it to Melbourne, because I continued to hear great things about it from people all across the country - oh, and I'd love to be in AU for New Year's someday as there are supposed to be tons of good music festivals . . . and it's warm!
Overall AU was cool and so different from Asia (obviously). Admittedly a little too much like home for me to feel that I was really exploring some new exotic place, but nice people and beautiful (deserted) spots. I left Sydney Friday night and arrived in COLD Auckland, New Zealand late. I just have a day here and then am off on a two week cycling and camping tour of both the north and south islands. I have heard that the natural beauty of New Zealand is going to blow my mind . . . I'm ready for it. I figured it would be the perfect place to spend as much time as possible outside so I'm hoping that the weather warms up and that I can leave this first leg of my trip on the same high I've been on these last 3 months . . . unfortunately I don't think I'll be ending it with the nice tan I have now, but we can't have it all, right?
Here is the link to my pictures if you want to take a peak:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=anr6pk9.chwiq92t&x=1&y=zh3cd9
I am bummed because I just spent WAY too much time adding captions to the pix only to have them not save 😞 Next chance I get I'll try to add comments again so that you (and I down the road) know who/what the things are you're looking at - sorry.
Hope that everyone is doing well back home . . . can't believe it's December. I'll be back in the States late Christmas Eve so I'll send my New Zealand highlights from there. Hope that life is treating all kind!!
Love, Nikki
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Nicole
non-member comment
amazing
Hello and I am glad that you haveing a wounderful time I really do envy you. You take your life and life it. You are an amazing person. Crazy but amazing.. I hope your travels are all safe and that you find your way home soon.. Love you and Miss you Nicole Fink.